It is a subspecies of Iris spuria, a beardless, rhizomatous perennial plant, from coastal regions Europe and north Africa with deep blue-violet flowers.

[8][9][10] The stem has several green,[4][11] narrow and tapering spathes (leaves of the flower bud).

[16] The falls have a deflexed, rounded blade, 3–8 cm (1–3 in) long,[4][11] with a yellow, cream or white centre that is heavily veined with purple or blue-violet.

[2][3][10] Behind the blade, it has a longer law (part of the petal closest to the stem) with a greenish stripe.

[11][4][7] Unlike other spuria plants from Slovakia, the flowers have conspicuous distinctive veining on the blade, the enlarged end portions of the falls.

[17] The Latin specific epithet maritima refers to "maritimus" meaning that grows at the edge of the sea.

[13] It was originally published as Iris maritima by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in Flore Françoise, ou Descriptions Succinctes de Toutes les Plantes qui Croissent Naturellement en France in Paris (Fl.

[25] This was later declared as an illegal (or illegitimate) name due to a clash with Iris maritima Mill.

Dykes then worked out some of the relationships of the Spuria Irises series, published in his book The Iris in 1913.

[30][8][10] It is found along the coasts of Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean,[9][4][31](of southern Europe and Iberian Peninsula).

[3][2] It has specifically found in several Departments of France including, Charente-Maritime,[21] (near Ciré-d'Aunis and Rochefort[22]) Hérault,[12] Vendée,[21][12] (near Saint-Denis-du-Payré,[21]) Pyrénées-Orientales (near Argelès-sur-Mer,[32]) and Var,[33] (near Hyères.

[22][19][32] Within Bardenas Reales (in Spain), the iris grows alongside an orchid (Ophrys scolopax).

[4] Specimens can be found in various herbariums, including; Kew Gardens, Vienna Hofmuseum, University of Cambridge, British Museum (in the Natural History Department of South Kensington, London) and the herbarium of the Botanical Garden of Berlin.

[28] Known cultivars include Belise (Simonett 1964) – which is 36" tall, blue-lavender self from a cross of two species, Iris spuria subsp.